Saturday, December 4, 2021

The knife sharpener returns.

 

The knife sharpener, who hasn't been to the village in two years, returns. He parks his van outside the church. 'The Font' wanders across to see him with a variety of  Japanese kitchen knives.  The Anger Management Mans wife and the German Billionaire Builders wife are already ahead in the queue. They stand there in a way that exaggeratedly ignores the others presence. Village politics don't get any easier. Knives and disputes could so easily 'escalate'.


The electrician shows up at The Rickety Old Farmhouse. A new doorbell is needed. The old one gave up the ghost a year ago and a replacement has been requested, every week, since. Installing a doorbell  is not as easy as it sounds. Downstairs the old stone walls are a metre and a half thick so wiring is needed. The electricians start off wearing masks but soon dispense with them . 'The Font' opens all the windows to improve the ventilation. It's clear the electricians think this is an unusual thing to do. They have no idea why they should wear their masks..


With travel becoming more and more difficult Angus speaks to the dentist in London about replacing the interim crown with the permanent one. It's seven weeks since he had the temporary crown fitted. 'Don't worry these things can last for weeks' the dentist says. I take this to mean that the filling will survive Christmas and that we can revisit travel plans after the holidays. In the meantime Brazil nuts are off the menu.


After a busy morning Sophie is completely worn out. She settles at the front door- head out, rump in. She stays there until the electricians go. At this point concerns about ventilation give way to concerns about the cold wind that's blowing in and she is 'encouraged' indoors.

Advent song #7 : Strange harmonies to northern ears but very beautiful. You can't get a video that is much more Southern European than this :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DGPA64hmXY



8 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Oh yes, the a capella was gorgeous to brighten the dark morning! Can we assume, the electricians having departed, that the doorbell is now fully functional? YAM xx

Angus said...

Not only is the doorbell functioning but there is a bell in the hall as well as the kitchen ! We are now a two chime family !

WFT Nobby said...

Favourite Advent video so far. A beautiful start to the weekend.

Travel said...

Half in, half out, a natural place for a diva, face in the sun, rump in the shade. Can you program the doorbell to play the Big Ben sounds.

Coppa's girl said...

Sophie really does look very comfy in those last two photos. She's a girl who can withstand cold winds, so how cruel to encourage her indoors - that deserves two lots of curly croissant ends tomorrow!
Was the dentist's comment reassuring, or are you now calculating how many weeks the temporary crown might have left?

Angus said...

Months would have been good, years better. Weeks less so.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

We've had patients that have kept their temp-crowns on for more than a year - Just be, as you know, careful chewing sticky foods and hard ones too. Don't floss, if you do, pop it down between the teeth, and pull straight out, and not up or down, that'll cause it to come off. If the temp does come off, if you can find some "polygrip" or another similar denture adhesive to put it back on, that'll work. It'll only go back on one way, make sure the tooth is dry (close on gauze or even part of a paper-towel) and the leftover cement is scraped out the best you can. ***Sorry, I couldn't help but give what I know is unsolicited dental advice that you probably already have gotten.

Angus said...

Thank you. A temporary crown surviving for a year is good news. I'm hoping that travel is easier again come the Spring and that six months - tops - is what we're talking about.